The Document That Opens Doors
You’re right. The debtor owes you money. You know it, he knows it, everyone knows it.
This is not enough.
For a bailiff to lift a finger, you need a document—not just any document, but an official one, bearing the proper seal, in the proper form. Without it, your claim is merely an assertion. With it, that claim becomes a command the state will execute by force.
This document is called an enforcement title. Add a certificate of enforceability, and it becomes an executory title—the key to compulsory execution.
Three Paths to a Title
Article 777 of the Code of Civil Procedure—practitioners call it “triple sevens”—enumerates the documents that qualify as enforcement titles. They fall into three categories.
Court judgments. Payment orders, first-instance verdicts, appellate decisions, court-approved settlements. You must endure the process, but at its conclusion you hold the paper that grants you access to the bailiff.
Notarial deeds with voluntary submission to enforcement. The debtor agrees, in advance, to enforcement should payment fail to materialize. No courtroom required. You proceed directly to the bailiff.
Other documents enforceable by operation of law. Foreign court judgments recognized in Poland, extracts from claims registers in bankruptcy proceedings, administrative enforcement titles.
Each path follows its own logic. Each carries its own costs and its own timeline.
The Judicial Path: Twenty Months and Uncertainty
You file a complaint. You pay five percent of the claim’s value as a court fee. You wait.
According to Ministry of Justice statistics, the average commercial proceeding at first instance takes approximately twenty months. Should the debtor appeal, add several more.
Along the way, you might obtain a payment order—if the court deems the matter straightforward. The debtor has fourteen days to object. Silence renders the order final. An objection returns you to ordinary proceedings.
At the end stands a judgment. It becomes final when no appeal remains available. Then you file a motion for a certificate of enforceability. The court issues it at no charge (unless you’ve lost your copy—then a clerical fee for a certified duplicate applies).
Enforcement title plus certificate of enforceability equals executory title. You proceed to the bailiff.
Twenty months. Plus costs. Plus the risk of losing—because evidence proves insufficient, because the court interprets the contract differently, because the debtor discovers a loophole.
Triple Sevens: Twenty Minutes Instead of Twenty Months
Another path exists. It demands foresight—but saves months and thousands.
A notarial deed in which the debtor declares submission to enforcement regarding a specified obligation, up to a specified amount, by a specified date. Article 777, Section 1, Points 4 and 5 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
When the debtor fails to pay, you skip the courtroom. You visit the court for a certificate of enforceability (a formality, a few days), then proceed to the bailiff.
Twenty months of litigation condense into twenty minutes at the notary’s office. Plus a few days for the certificate. Plus the time enforcement requires.
The condition: you must think of this when executing the contract. Once the debt exists and the debtor refuses to pay, triple sevens arrive too late. No debtor will sign a voluntary submission to enforcement knowing the bailiff stands at the threshold.
Where Triple Sevens Apply
Lease agreements. Commercial, occasional, institutional. A notarial deed secures both rent and premises surrender. A tenant who neither pays nor vacates can be evicted without litigation—provided the appropriate deed was signed beforehand.
Loans. Private, corporate, between partners. The borrower submits to enforcement for principal and interest.
Contracts with deferred payment. Trade credit sales, services billed upon completion. The counterparty signs the deed at contract execution—and you know that nonpayment requires no courtroom.
In combination with other security interests. Mortgages, pledges, guarantees—these constitute real and personal security. Triple sevens constitute procedural security: they don’t alter what you can reach, but they transform how quickly you can begin.
Immediately Enforceable Judgments
Certain judgments require no wait for finality.
A payment order in documentary proceedings—issued on the basis of a promissory note, check, or official document—is immediately enforceable. The debtor may raise objections, but you may already proceed to the bailiff.
A default judgment—when the debtor neither appeared nor contested—is immediately enforceable.
A judgment awarding alimony—enforceable upon issuance, no finality required.
A claim acknowledged by the defendant—if the debtor admits the obligation, the court issues an immediately enforceable judgment.
These judgments offer an expedited path—but require the appropriate prerequisites. Not every case qualifies.
The Certificate of Enforceability: The Final Step
An enforcement title alone is insufficient. You need a certificate of enforceability—official confirmation that the title is fit for execution.
You file the motion with the court that issued the judgment (or, for notarial deeds, the court with territorial jurisdiction). The court grants the certificate—or refuses, if something is amiss.
Once the certificate attaches, the enforcement title becomes an executory title. The paper you carry to the bailiff, saying: “Collect this.”
What Follows: Execution
An executory title represents only half the journey.
The bailiff may seize bank accounts, wages, movables, real property, the debtor’s claims against third parties. But he must know where to look. And there must be something to find.
Debtors who understand they’ve lost often attempt to conceal assets. They transfer the house to relatives. They sell the car for a symbolic dollar. They incorporate a new company and shift operations there.
These maneuvers can be reversed—a fraudulent conveyance action permits reaching assets that technically no longer belong to the debtor. And concealing assets from enforcement constitutes a crime under Article 300 of the Criminal Code.
But that belongs to the next chapter. First—the title.
What We Do
We litigate to obtain titles. Complaints, payment orders, judgments. We represent clients until the paper rests in hand.
We construct security arrangements. At contract execution—notarial deeds with voluntary submission to enforcement, promissory notes, guarantees. So you needn’t visit a courtroom when debtors fail to pay.
We obtain certificates of enforceability. A formality—but a formality that must be handled correctly.
We support enforcement. We collaborate with bailiffs, identify assets, respond to attempts at concealment.
A Final Thought
An enforcement title marks the moment when your right ceases to be an assertion and becomes a command.
You can reach it through twenty months of litigation. You can possess it from day one—if you thought ahead when executing the contract.
The difference between these two paths is the difference between hope and certainty.
We help choose the shorter path. And when no shortcuts exist—we guide you through the longer one.